WAR PRICES

Southland Times, Issue 17483, 26 July 1915, Page 3

WAR PRICES

IXCREASES IX NEW ZKALAXD. STATIST ICAL FIGURES. (Special to the Times.) WELLIXGTO.X, July 22. In (he Labour Journal for July the Government Statistician (Mr Malcolm Fraser) continues his analysis of retail prices in Now Zealand IS9I-1914, and Rives also some fipuros bearing- on the increased cost of living since the outbreak of war. Though the investigation gives increases since the war began, it is not possible to say exactly how much of the increase is due directly to the war. The prices used were obtained from representative retail merchants in 25 towns, and are the predominant or most usual prices of the commodities in common use. It is, therefore, claimed with confidence that the figures quoted show accurately the changes in the cost of foodstuffs so far as they affect the mass of the community. Foodstuffs have been divided into three groups—groceries, dairy produce, and meat. In the first table (groceries) Mr i Fraser rinds that the percentage of inj crease is large and fairly constant in most of the towns. The biggest in--1 creases are Masterton (25 per cent.), and I Ashburton (26 per cent.), and the lowest j Oamaru (9 per cent.), and New Ply--1 mouth (10 per cent.). In Wellington the i increase is 17.0-1 per cent. Both Master- ] ton and Ashburton were at a low level j before the war, so that the increase has | brought them up to the average. The : increase of the four centres closely approximates to the average throughout ; the dominion. ! In dairy produce the increases are i much the same as for groceries, both in | the weighted average and in the fluctuations. The highest increases are shown by Palmerston Xorth (30 per cent.), Wanganui and Oamaru (27 per cent.), , and the lowest by Xelson (10 per cent.). 1 The figures for Wellington are 13.07 per : cent. The average of the four centres i is rather lower than the weighted averi age for the dominion, pointing to the : fact that the increases (mainly in butter and milk) are greater in the ; smaller towns. Mr Fraser points out that the prices j of meat show quite a different course i from the other groups, and' it will be ! recognised that peculiar influences have i been at work. The first feattire of the table is the fact that at three towns — j Auckland, Christchurch and X'elson—the ! price of meat shows a decrease, and it iis very evident throughout that the prices of meat have not risen nearly as greatly as the prices of the other commodities. In the case of Auckland the S price of meat advanced rapidly in 1913 j and 1914, so that the outbreak of war | meat prices there were very greatly 1 above those of the three other centres. I This high level proves temporary and the decrease in price is thus explainable. Both Xelson and Christchurch suffered heavily from the shortage of shipping in connection with frozen meat, and this is reflected in the retail prices. The I greatest increase was in Palmerston j Xorth (24 per cent.). The increase in Wellington was 5.26 per cent. ! The average increase for the four J centres is given as follows; —Groceries, 16.32 per cent.: dairy produce, 14.15 per cent.: meat, l.S$ per cent.; three food groups. 10.6 per cent.